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Coppa steps down as head coach

After 10 years, coach opts to spend more time with family

By BRANDON HOPPER hopperb@ canoncitydailyrecord.com

Posted:
01/20/2012 08:37:07 AM MST

Chris Coppa stepped down as head coach of the Cañon City Tigers football program Thursday. Coppa spend 10 years at the position, racking up a 64-43 record. He will remain on staff as the offensive coordinator. (Jeff Shane/Daily Record)

After 10 years as the head coach of the Cañon City Tigers football program, Chris Coppa stepped down Thursday.

He'll remain with the team as the offensive coordinator.

Defensive coordinator Tom O'Rourke will take Coppa's spot as the head coach. Coppa told his team Wednesday in the CCHS auditorium.

Because the process had yet to be completed, Coppa and Athletic Director Bob Trahern were unable to comment on the transition until Thursday morning.

"Things in all of our lives change," Coppa said Thursday. "I've had some things that have changed over the course of the last year or two, and I need to be able to have a little more time to be able to address those things. As I told the kids (Wednesday), my family has been very supportive of me pursuing my dream to be the head coach here at Cañon City High School. I've had the opportunity to do that, and now it's time to give back to my family a little bit more."

Chris Coppa is married to Lori Coppa, who also teaches at CCHS. They have a son, Daniel, who is a senior at Colorado State University-Pueblo, and a daughter, Lindsay, who is a senior at CCHS.

"The job as head coach is really demanding, if you're going to do the job, I feel correctly, it's 365 days," the coach said. "I always told the kids you have to have your priorities in place, and I made my decision based on having my priorities in the right order."

Coppa amassed a 64-43 record during his 10-year head coaching tenure.

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He's been with the program for a total of 26 years.

The Tigers were the top seed in this year's playoffs but lost to Frederick in the first round.

The former head coach insisted the move had nothing to do with the disappointing loss to Frederick, nor was it because the Tigers' upcoming jump from Class 3A to 4A.

He said the decision process has been hard but staying on as an assistant coach is helping him mentally. He also credited Lori, Daniel, Lindsay and his parents for being supportive.

Passing the torch to O'Rourke was important to Coppa. He said he wouldn't have stepped down if he didn't have the opportunity to transition the program to O'Rourke.

Late Thursday night, O'Rourke said he's excited to be the new head coach, and is ready for the challenges the position will present.

"It's a tough act to follow, the previous two head coaches were pretty good," new head coach O'Rourke said. "Coach (Lee) Hitchcock was an all-state inductee for coaching and Coach Coppa has had a wonderfully successful tenure as head coach."

Coppa said the days leading up to making the decision final were stressful.

"It was difficult anticipating telling the players and those things, but our kids are so good and so resilient and they handle things so well," Coppa said. "We've always prided ourselves on teaching our kids to respond positively to change."

Austin Douglas and Logan Nethercot will both be key pieces on next year's team. Neither one of them think the change will be a big one, since Coppa will still be coaching the offense.

O'Rourke said he doesn't see any major changes he'll make to the program, although both he and Coppa agree that O'Rourke will need to put his own twist on things. O'Rourke said they're both from the Hitchcock mold and do things similarly.

Trahern called Coppa a great piece to the program, and he's glad to have him staying on as an assistant. It didn't come as a complete shock to Trahern when Coppa told him that he wanted to relieve himself of head coaching duties.

"I don't know if (I was) surprised," Trahern said. "I think it's one of those things that all coaches go through. It's a very demanding job to be a head coach."

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